The Vampire Detective: Omake
by LeonaWriter
Summary: A series of extras that were left out of the main story that can be as long as a chapter to as short as a drabble. Omake 1: Hattori Heiji's Very Bad Day. Rated for panicked language. #10. Movie night out, and Shinichi regains a bit of his old self.
1. Hattori Heiji's Very Bad Day

TVD Omake 1

Disclaimer: I own the story, not the characters.

AN: This takes part during chapters one and two of The Vampire Detective. It is the other side of the telephone call, and what happened before that. I never expected it to go up to the length of an actual chapter, but I bet all of you will be dead chuffed. I didn't plan on it being first person, but it's a result of reading (re-reading) Kosagi no Legion's Psychic Detective Heiji series. Plus a late night where I was writing into a notebook, and suddenly it was all first person. I hope you enjoy.

_But yu must come back tomorrow_

_wid de whole of yu eye_

_an de whole of yu ear_

_an de whole of yu mind_

_An I will tell yu_

_de other half_

_Of my story - _

from Half-Caste, by John Agard.

Hattori Heiji's Very Bad Day

I woke up, my eyes flying wide and in a cold sweat. My breath came to me in starts and fits, remembering what it had been like in the dream – or rather nightmare – that I had just woken up from.

_Oh, man. That was the third time this week_. . . I shook my head, a vain attempt to make it sort itself out. _Get a grip_. _It's not as if the damn thing's gonna come true or anything. I mean,_ I thought, more to reassure myself than anything else_, sure. I've had the same dream . . . how many times? And it _was_ so realistic. . . but it's stupid. It's not as if that's ever gonna happen. I mean, come on_. . .

Shaking my head again, I blearily went through the motions of running a shower and getting dressed. Picking up the omamori, I paused for a moment. _Better safe than sorry_, I thought as I put it around my neck rather than stuffing it into a back jeans pocket or something. Then I grabbed my school bag, headed down the stairs, found something that I could eat on the way to school and went out of the door.

I met up with Kazuha not long after, falling easily into the old routine of snipes and insults with her, if with a little less enthusiasm. I hoped she didn't notice, but I wouldn't put money on it. She always does whenever I don't want her to.

Things continued as per normal for the most part of the morning classes, with boring English – I'm already fluent, so I don't need to learn how to speak it – and irritating maths. Maths was irritating because, well, apart from the fact that it was maths, it was ridiculously easy to someone who used their head for deductions. A weird sort of feeling kept overcoming me as though something real _bad_ was going to happen, but nothing had yet, we were in school (it was hardly likely that some kind of murder was gonna happen in school) and it was still morning. A bright, clear morning that wasn't too cold and didn't have too many clouds in the sky.

Somewhere in me, there was still the naive idea that bad – really bad – things didn't happen on good mornings. Well, _that_ little bit of naiveté would soon be knocked right out of my head. Real soon.

The next class was double phys. Ed, which while some might find this something to be loathed, I've always been one of those who looks forward to the class due to my skills at both kendo and baseball, not to mention a passing interest in other sports as well. Today was a free-for-all sort of session in the gym, with everyone splitting off into groups and practicing at what they did best. Kazuha I saw going off in one direction with a bunch of people who did aikido. I was going over to grab a shinai before they were all taken and find someone to spar with. Looking around, I saw that all of the best had already paired off with other people. With a chagrined and long-suffering sigh, I settled himself down into practicing the kata, moving through one form to another.

_Maybe_, I thought, taking a side step to dodge an invisible blow, _it's better this way_. _At least now I don't haveta worry about how good I'm bein' on some poor soul who's just starting, or gettin' bopped one on the head for not payin' attention_. And, despite all of my reassurances to both the teacher and Kazuha, I _was_ distracted. Had been all day. Ever since I'd woken up from that nightmare. The prickling feeling at the back of my neck had only grown worse, making me more and more edgy and irritable as the morning wore on.

_Dammit, what the hell's Kudo gone and gotten himself into this time?_ The first time I'd had a dream like that that had involved Kudo, the kid had gone and got himself almost stabbed if it hadn't been for my omamori around his neck. _Damn trouble magnet. Knowing him it's probably something real dangerous and he's got anyone else who's around him up to their necks in it, too_. I shivered at my own wording, remembering the nightmare. Dammit, how many times do I have to remind myself that it ain't gonna happen?

-

It was maybe halfway through the first part of the lesson when it happened. It was like a bolt of electricity had just zapped me, leaving no part untouched and everywhere feeling static.

I froze, hands gripping the shinai tightly in front of me, trying to get my breathing under control. By this time, Kazuha had noticed that something was wrong and was hurrying over, a few of her friends with her. I wanted to scowl at her and tell her that everything was fine even when it wasn't, tell her that she was a damn idiot for bringing all her friends with her, but I couldn't.

Because just then, when I started to open my mouth to say something – anything, really – the proverbial other shoe dropped, and so did the shinai. So did I, for that matter, like a ton of bricks and feeling as though an elephant had just sat on my chest.

I was faintly aware of a deep gratefulness that I wasn't in full kendo body armour and the fact that amid the panic, Kazuha was demanding a doctor, _Now_.

-

The next thing I was aware of was, again, Kazuha. Only this time she was shouting in my ear and shaking my shoulders, as if she thought I was dead or something.

_Not going there. Not. Going. There_. Everything I'd felt before passing out was reminding me of that damn nightmare. A nightmare where, for once, I wasn't in the picture, but was instead a backseat passenger. A very unwilling backseat passenger, might I add.

"Heiji? _Heiji_! Can you hear me? Wake up, you idiot!"

I winced. Twitched. Tried to sit up, which caused more shouting in the now-sensitive ear, higher pitched than even before.

"Heiji you idiot! Don't do that to me!"

"Eh? Do what? I'm fine. So you can stop deafening me now, yeah?"

"You're what?! I don't believe you! Saying you're fine after all that! How _can_ you be?"

But I was. Ok, minor vestiges of weird sick feeling that were ebbing away quickly and I was still feeling kinda prickly with static, but other than that, I was fine. Almost as if nothing had happened. I sat up carefully – all due to a headache coming on more due to Kazuha's shouting than anything else – and blinked. Half the class seemed to be gathered around me, and everyone was talking.

"Okay," I said warily. "What the hell's goin' on here?"

"Why don't you tell me that, idiot! You just suddenly fell as if – as if something really _bad_ was wrong with you and ten minutes later you wake up saying you're _fine_?"

Well of course _she_ wouldn't know. For all her talk of omamori and luck and bonds and all that kind of stuff, it's never actually happened to _her_, not that I'd want it to. Idiot she may be, but I wouldn't wish it on her. So how could she know that I feel just –

Wait. Did she say _ten minutes_?

I look at my watch. Groan and feel like hitting my head against a brick wall or door or something when I realize that she's telling the truth. How could I have known how long I'd been out? I'd never been out before. Come to think about it, none of my dreams or anything have ever been quite as weird or wacky as they have been recently. Or as detailed.

As I've been thinking about all this, the teacher has shooed away most of the others who were crowding around me, so as to give me a bit of breathing and moving space. Kazuha and some of my other classmates are still there, but they just mill around, trying to be nice and ask me how I am.

I mostly don't know how to answer – even Kazuha would think I was crazy if I told them the truth – so I bluff my way out, or at least try to. The teacher insists that I sit the rest of the class out, and for once I'm only too happy. I have the weird feeling that I'd zap anything that had metal, and whether that's true or not I'd rather not find out.

So instead, I just sat there on a bench, out of the way yet able to watch and brood over recent events. I don't usually count myself as a brooder, but sometimes special times call for special measures. Now was one of those times.

I didn't remember much from the dream-slash-nightmare thing. Mostly vague memories that were, weirdly enough, slowly getting vaguer and less specific. Of the few things I could pick out, there was the idea of a place – weird western-style place that looked like someone'd done it up to look almost Japanese. People. Foreigners, possibly, all with a sense of age, though I wouldn't know where to start on why I felt that. Pain – which had been mirrored by my fall in class earlier and my weird blackout – which had been what had woken me up most times. A sense of panic, and above all that, a sense of time running out. Very fast, and with lives hanging on the line sort of countdown. Oh, and panic. Did I say panic? Yup, plenty of that.

Especially when I thought – not as if I was thinking about now – about those times when I had woken up _after_ the pain.

Kazuha started to look at me as though she knows something's going on that I'm not telling her about, so I go on the offensive. Asking her why exactly she's still sitting by me like she's my nurse maid or something, 'cause it's not as though I'm an invalid. Ok, not anymore.

This, of course, had the intended result of steering the subject away from me. Which was good. At that moment, me wasn't a good subject, and I really didn't want her to find out why.

When at long last class ended, the wave of people who came up to me to try and ask me what had happened back there were fended off by glares from me and Kazuha. Some of them still tried, but it didn't take them very far.

After that, lessons and breaks went on as per usual. There were no more odd bouts of pain, no visions or anything, not even any falling asleep in class. Admittedly, my detective's sense that something totally creepy was still gonna happen or was happening was still on the blink, but I put that down to normal weirdness levels of the day.

It was only during my last lesson of the day when I found out that I'd been wrong.

Oddly enough, it was my phone that told me.

The name of the guy ringing me during class time? Kudo.

Kudo Shinichi.

_Kuso_. Whatever had that guy calling would be important.

So saying, I made my excuses to the teacher, who resignedly let me out, and angrily told Kazuha that _no_, she _couldn't_ go where I was going, with a Very Pointed Look.

I escaped to an empty classroom I knew wasn't being used to take the call.

"This'd better be good, Kudo, because if it isn't –"

Kudo cut across me, not waiting to hear anything more. Kami, if all this'd happened just because of some stupid case or prank, I don't know what I'd have done.

"_Look, just for once, would you listen, Hattori? I think – no, make that I am in trouble. Big trouble_."

There was something in his voice that made me pause. Something I recognized and made my stomach drop back into my shoes. Panic. A kind I knew.

". . . What kind of trouble are we talkin' about here, Kudo?"

I almost didn't want to know. Even though I was sure a part of me already knew. There was a hesitant pause, and I trawled a hand through my hair.

"_I was knocked out_." Yeah, well so had I been. Though I doubted somehow that he'd had the same experience. "_When is it?_"

Okay, so that wasn't something I'd expected him to ask. I growled in frustration.

"First you're tellin' me you're in trouble, then you're askin' me what the time is? Mind telling me what's going on here?"

"_I – that's what I'm trying to figure out!_" There was another pause; this time full of tension. I winced at the snappy, panicky tones Kudo was using, all to aware of the idea that I'd be using them if I wasn't supposed to be the sane one. A breath of wind signalled a sigh from the other line. "_Someone sent an invitation to the old man to com out here – a weird old place. Town. It's old, but odd – half western, in a way. Someone got killed_ –" I snorted. Murders and dead bodies literally fell out of the sky when Kudo was around. _"- and I investigated. I know who the murderer is, I just didn't have enough evidence to credibly nail them. When I figured there might be link between them and someone else –_" Kudo growled in frustration, a feeling I understood only too well from my own cases. When he started to speak again, I _knew_ he was missing bits out. "_I woke up maybe ten minutes ago. I can't tell_."

Can't tell? How couldn't he tell?

More importantly than even that, why was it something was telling him that what Kudo had been through and the events in his rapidly more and more vague nightmare-vision were linked. Which meant. . .

"When was it you got knocked out?"

"_Morning_," Kudo said dryly. My world tipped slightly as the detective of the east continued. "_Around quarter past ten when the murder took place_."

_Shit. Shimatta_. The same – exactly the same – time I got knocked out by forces unknown. I tried to sound as though nothing was wrong, starting with a long, low whistle. I gotta sound like I normally would, as if I didn't know nothin' about anything he'd been through.

"That must've been one hell of a blow to the head, Kudo."

"Hattori, tell me."

Ouch. Panic. Odd echoes rattled in my head of the feelings I'd gotten in the nightmare. "It's afternoon," I said shortly, trying to lessen the blow at least a little. Don't think about it, just act and react. Like in a kendo match. Remember what had come after the pain and panic in the nightmare. Don't think about it too much, but if the rest was real, then _that_ has to be, too. It wasn't as though he hadn't seen weird things before. Onimaru had looked weirder – ok, maybe not weirder, but weird – more than once. He could deal. "Still a few hours 'till sunset, though." There. He'd said it. He breathed once, twice. Remembered that other feeling – the one that meant that lives were hanging on the line and time was running out. "Oi, Kudo?" My voice hesitated slightly. Would he realize I knew more than I should? Hopefully not. "'Neechan. Is she-?"

"_She's still alive_." Good. That meant that Kudo was at least sane. I don't know what _I'd_ do if Kazuha was in real danger. Let alone anything worse. Not that I'd tell her, of course. "_So are the others_." Even better.

_Not asking how he knows. Need not to know_.

I started to pace slightly, thoughts running in a more recognizable track of what to do with the case than what to do with my friend and my own head.

"Good. Then the bastard's probably got some sort of agenda; he woulda taken care of things while you were out of the picture otherwise. Which gives you enough time to _explain_ things to me."

If Kudo explained things to me, I wouldn't have as much to explain to him if he figured out I knew. Plus, I didn't know the entire picture. Detectives never work too well with less than the full amount of info.

Meanwhile, there was still no answer from Kudo. No explanation. I could hear heavy breathing, but nothing much more than that.

Lucky me, I could guess what was going on in his mind.

"Ok, Kudo. Just calm down." Panic was probably overtaking him as it wanted to overtake me. Unfortunately, I couldn't because he had more reason to panic than I did. "You can explain when you're a bit calmer."

Kudo laughed, and I froze, almost scared at the hysteric notes. If I didn't do somethin', Kudo would lose his grip on reality.

"_Calm? That's a good one. I haven't been trying to stay_ calm, _Hattori. I've been trying to stay_ sane. _When I woke up, I was Shinichi again. Not Edogawa Conan, Hattori. Kudo Shinichi. And before you say anything, no, I wasn't drugged, I didn't take a cure and I didn't even have any_ alcohol."

_Well, I guessed that much. Your voice, for one_. Wouldn't have been a good thing tellin' him that, though. At least he was still using _some_ of his deductive reasoning. I, however, still had a part to play.

"Mind tellin' me what you did take?"

Like I wanted to know.

"_B- nothing!_" I almost snorted, stopped myself – he'd hear me – and instead raised my eyebrows as a more invisible sign of his disbelief. _Nothing my ass_, I thought darkly. Whether I liked it or not I had a bad feeling what that 'b' had stood for, and the slight slip was all but enough to confirm it.

"Look, Kudo. You know the drill. Either you tell me, or I figure things out on my own. Either way, we're gonna find out what happened to you. The important thing now is-"

"_I already know what happened to me, Hattori_." Thank the kami, he sounded calmer. Though admittedly he'd seen people in shock sound just like that. Distant, cold and only half aware. Going through the motions. "_I'm not stupid. I know what I am_." I flinched slightly at the use of 'what' rather than 'who' or anything else. Not a good sign. People, no matter what, are _not_ 'what'. There was a pause. Then, the question I'd been half waiting for ever since he'd asked when it was. "_Oi, Hattori. How dark is it out?_"

"It's getting darker. Dunno how things are at your end, but the sun's just-"

I cut myself off, swearing silently. _Shit. Dammit. Absolute idiot_. Now he knows I know and he's gonna panic. I just know he's gonna panic. Kudo always panics whenever he thinks someone's figured him out.

And dammit, he hasn't said anything for ages.

"Oi, Kudo – you still with me?"

Nothing.

"_OI_! Kudo – you still alive over there – ah, bad analogy." Oops. "_You_ know what I mean." I sighed. "Eh. . ."

Yep, things were definitely going SNAFU. Situation normal; all fouled up. Normal for our lives, anyway. I was about to say something else – try to get my foot out of my mouth, for a start – when the school bell rung. I groaned. Great timing, as per usual.

"Hang on," Kudo started to ask, sounding thoroughly confused and with a grain of suspicion. I snorted derisively. Idiot. "At school, you baka. Where else would I be? _Some_ of us didn't get a day pass. You rang me in the middle of a lesson and I had to escape both class and Kazuha."

And Kazuha only barely. I was half afraid that she'd just appear out of nowhere any minute.

The pregnant pause ended with only two words.

"_You know_."

Ack. I knew he was gonna get back to that at some point. . .

"Yeah." Not like I _like_ it or anything. Not like I _wanted_ my world tipped on its axis. But yeah. I knew.

"_And you're not freaking out or telling me that I'm crazy?_"

_That_ I should have seen coming. Luckily, I have a backup plan. Two, in fact.

"I grew up with Kazuha, you idiot. She's the one who insists I keep an omamori, remember?" _An omamori that saved your life once if I remember correctly_, I failed to add. Instead, I walked back over to the window and glanced out of it again. "Apart from other things, Mister Only One Truth panicking over stuff he doesn't believe in is about on par with the world ending. So yeah, I believe you. If there's one thing an impersonator can't copy, it's Kudo in a panic."

Not to mention that I'd felt that panic a few times. No; best not to mention that.

"_Thanks. I think_." I snorted, half a laugh. "_But I still don't understand how you're just-_"

"Later, Kudo," I growled out. "And when I say later, I mean later this time." Any explanations now would only waste time, and I really didn't want Kudo to find out the _real_ reasons behind all of this. I huffed slightly under my breath. For one, I didn't know whether he'd believe me, and for two I didn't know whether _I'd_ believe me when I sat down and thought about the whole fiasco.

"So." Better to get the conversation matter away from the danger zones. "What're you gonna do about that case of yours?"

For a moment there was blank. Which almost worried me. It was almost as if the case had passed his mind, but a case _never_ passed Kudo's mind. Of course, this was a special occasion.

"_How am I supposed to deal with_ that? _All they know is that –_ damn. _That Conan's gone missing_."

That would be a minor problem. He could deal with that much, however, and I told him so. No big deal. "You're not a half-bad bluffer. What's got me is that the way you've said things, the bastard who killed that other guy was just like you. Only he's been around a bit longer and has homicidal tendencies. Am I right or am I right?"

And hopefully Kudo was too out of it to think if maybe I was using unspoken evidence.

"_You're right_," he admitted with a hint of reluctance. Dammit, I hated being right this once. I took a breath before saying what I had to say next.

"Then I don't know how you're gonna like this, but you're probably gonna have to get you're story straight to be able to get the guy in 'cuffs, Kudo."

Yikes. He recognized that sound – Kudo was going back into deep panic, and every so often he'd wheeze slightly. With a squeak.

"Oi, Kudo, you ok? You not freakin' out on me?"

"_No_." Kudo's voice croaked as though he wasn't used to using it anymore. "_Not much_."

_Like hell not much, I thought. Somethin's got you freaked_. Dunno whether it was somethin' I said or not, but it sure was _something_.

" 'Catch the killer and cover the crime', huh?"

Okaay. That sounded like he was quoting something, so bets were on that as the thing to freak. No idea why, though.

"Er, right." Not important. I walked back over to the window again, opened the blinds slightly. "Looks like you aughta be safe now. Sun's going down. You should probably remember to breath before you try anything, though."

Just _how_ he'd managed to go without breathing while talking and all, I don't wanna know. The sound of coughing and spluttering was, however, reassuringly normal. I laughed with relief at the fact that something was normal, and that Kudo was still himself. By the time he'd sorted himself out, I was able to be serious again.

"You be careful, you hear me? Don't panic. It'll help if you don't go falling face-forward onto any wooden stakes, too, but you don't me to tell you that. You survive long enough and I'll be right down as soon as I can, Kudo."

Kami knew that the guy would need some kinda friendly face who knew the secret, but the reaction was like always. Instant denial, and no river in Egypt.

"I don't need-"

"Humour me, will you? And get back to that case."

I didn't have any time for his denials, and I doubted the case did either. Not to mention that I was sure I'd just heard something – or rather some_one_ – hiding just around the corner, close enough to over hear. Great. Just great. Like I needed someone else thinking I was crazy.

I stalked out, ready and willing to give whoever it was a big reaming out for listening in on people's private conversations, when the last person I wanted to see stepped out in front of me, fists at hips.

Kazuha.

_Uh-oh_...

I was in _deep_ trouble.

Especially as her chin was jutting out just so – a thing that usually I find kinda cute – and her eyes looked all flinty.

"Hattori Heiji, you are going to tell me what that was all about _right now_."

I started to protest, but she cut across me with the ease of practice.

"Either that," she said, "Or I'm going to ring Ran-chan and tell her you were just on the phone to Kudo-kun."

_Ouch_. I winced. Low blow.

"Start talking. _Now_."

And that was how Kazuha found out, filling in a number of little plotholes in the process.


	2. Inspector Nakamori's Thank You Letter

TVD Omake 2

Nakamori-keibu's Thank-You Letter

Disclaimer: Not even an original character in this story.

-

Inspector Nakamori of the Kaitou Kid Task Force was not usually in a good mood for the first few days after a Kid heist. So, it made sense that this day, a mere two days after the fiasco that had been the Beika Gallery Heist with a total of two thefts and only one returned so far, he wasn't just not in a good mood, he was in a Very Bad Mood.

Which only made the swearing and all-out inferno of rage that much worse when, that morning, the second gem that had been taken at the heist was returned –

Complete with a note from the Kid, thanking Nakamori and his Task Force for playing with him the previous weekend.

AN: Almost a true drabble, the shock. No dialogue, either. O_O


	3. Crossed Over And Not

TVD Omake 3

Crossed Over – And Not

Disclaimer: I own neither universe.

AN: Set during the second chapter, this is a possible scene inspired by Ellen Brand's 'Not Quite Ingar Bergman'. There will probably (*she means definitely*) be more crossovers in the Omakes, but not any in the main story. You can take it as if this scene never happened, or you can put it in as if it did; I don't mind. Enjoy.

-

In a room blocked off from the sunlight that would have otherwise been pouring into the room, Kudo Shinichi – or rather, what at the same time was both what _had been_ and what was _going to be_ that person – looked with a curious expression at the body on the floor.

The body that, through the steam, could be seen aging – it was now at thirteen, so there wasn't too long to go – and changing in other ways, too.

Slightly behind and to the side of Shinichi's awareness, there stood a figure clothed in black from head to toe, carrying a rather large weapon.

YOU KNOW, I HAD EXPECTED TO MEET YOU UNDER RATHER DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES.

Shinichi sighed, present condition disavowing him from any denial or confusion that the final voice might have otherwise brought him. In a surreal way, the condition of the body on the floor also disavowed him from panic and fear – for the moment.

"I would've expected that, too. I suppose we won't be meeting each other again."

The figure tilted his head to one side.

NO, I THINK NOT. AT LEAST, NOT LIKE THAT FOR A LONG TIME YET.

There was a slight pause, and if he hadn't known that it was impossible, Shinichi would have said that Death smiled on him.

I AM SURE THAT YOU WILL SEE ME AROUND, the personification said. AT THE MOMENT, HOWEVER, IT SEEMS YOU HAVE A RATHER MORE PRESSING COMMITMENT.

Shinichi sighed, and almost mourned the fact that he wouldn't remember any of his meeting with Death when he woke up.


	4. What's in a Name?

What's in a name?

Disclaimer – TVDverse is mine. DC and MK are not.

"_. . . and keep a look out for dogs." – Koizumi Akako, chapter Eleven._

---

It was the beginning of the evening before they were due to debrief with the police, and the unlikely suspects were gathered around a table in the newly 'secret' room of Hakuba Saguru's large house. On one side were Kudo Shinichi, high school detective and still getting used to being a vampire, complete with predatory instincts. Next to him is Hattori Heiji, also a detective, although with a hotheadedness that balances out with the half-English Hakuba Saguru himself who is sitting opposite him. The last, and perhaps the odd member of their group, was Kuroba Kaito, currently tinkering with something small and being stared at by the other three. He finished after only a few moments and put the small tools down with an accomplished grin.

"Done!"

"Done what, exactly?" asked Hakuba.

"They're radios," came the statement of the obvious in an Osakan accent.

"I am well aware of _what_ they are," said Hakuba in tones of tried patience, "but what exactly did you mean by –"

Kuroba tossed the radio that he had been tinkering with over to Kudo, who caught it easily.

"Needed modifying," said the thief to the detective across from him. "Volume was set too loud."

The Osakan and the vampire's eyes widened fractionally in understanding, an action that did not go completely unnoticed by the blond. Kudo nodded once and put the disguised piece of communications machinery into a jacket pocket.

"Thanks," he said.

The thief grinned and waved a hand in dismissal. The other three green heart-shaped objects came out in the same movement, landing just in front of their respective new owners.

"I presume," Hakuba said blandly, "that these are for our expedition tonight and our forays with the police."

Kuroba shrugged.

"Thought they might be useful. 'Specially since Kudo's old one doesn't fit anymore and we'd be running around like headless chickens without them," he said, grinning. "Mind you, there'll be no way of knowing who's who, unless we use some sort of system."

"Codes."

"Yeah. Them." The thief said this with a sort of relish that came from doing too many things that most law-abiding people only dreamt of.

A similar light could be seen in the green eyes of the Osakan detective, though for slightly different reasons. A slow smile started to grace his features.

"I play dibs on Queen."

The vampire and the phantom thief snorted; the half-English detective pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation.

"Hattori-kun. . . no. Just – no. I am well aware of your. . . _passion_ . . . for Ellery Queen. But no."

Hattori, who looked about ready to get into an argument over this, thought better of it when confronted by sniggers coming from the other two. Maybe having a codename that was synonymous with a female regent and a British rock group _wouldn't_ be the best idea.

For a few minutes the four pensively considered their choice of name, keeping in mind that whatever it was, it couldn't be too ambiguous or specific. At long last, Kudo spoke.

"Shiro," he muttered under his breath, just loud enough so that the others could hear him. He looked up sharply, luminescent eyes catching the two across the table from him. "You two are going to be the more important part of the plan," he said, tones now strong and clear. "We might as well use something to make it easy to tell if it's one of you about to say something, then."

Hakuba blinked, temporarily confused.

"Like what?"

Kuroba snapped his fingers, accidentally spraying a small amount of glitter around his hand and making Kudo sneeze. Ever the consummate showman, he didn't show anything on his face, but made a mental note to find out why that happened and make sure it didn't happen again. Wouldn't do to make the guy sneeze at the wrong time.

"I know," he said. "_Double-you_." He pronounced the letter's name in English, Japanese having no true equivalent. "White. White Horse and White -," he gestured vaguely in the direction of the part of the room where his suit was, with its various spare pieces of fabric.

"I believe, Kuroba, that I would prefer Knight. Horse is too specific."

Kuroba nodded. "Yeah, yeah. . . sure, makes sense."

After all, not only was the Hakuba family name literally _White Horse_, but the family crest/business logo was an actual illustration of said horse. Knight wasn't too far off from this, but it was at least something, and a something that could be confused with Kid by the uninitiated.

"What about you?"

That was Kudo, sounding interested and curious.

The Magician grinned again, mischief and magic in his eyes.

"Wizard, Tantei-kun. What else?"

Kudo rolled his eyes.

"All right," he said with a smirk. "So what would you say was a good moniker for me?"

The thief made a pretence at thinking about it for a moment.

"Well, I guess since Van Helsing would be in bad taste. . ."

"Kuro_ba_."

". . . and I don't think you'd want to be known as _Koumouri_, either . . ."

"_Kuroba_!"

Hakuba simply didn't understand why, when Kuroba quickly shot back with "Bloodhound!", Kudo _glared_. Something might have tugged at his memory at the word, but the glare was somewhat distracting, even when it wasn't directed specifically at one.

"Eh. . ."

Everyone stared at Hattori.

"What about me, then?"

"Samurai," Kudo bit out sourly, likely remembering not only the fact that the kendoist's bokken was made of wood, which could and did hurt him, but also that his friend had laughed along at the thief's jokes.

For a few moments the others wondered at his bad mood as he left, but not for very long – time was running out.

A while later, Hattori made a face, realising that he had somehow become the one with the least imaginative code name.

---

AN: Just a bit of fun. The vampire jokes came from the fact that originally, their nicknames might have been based on radio code, and because more than one of them has the same initial, Shinichi might've been getting Victor. V, for vampire. . .

Van Helsing was the vampire hunter in the original Dracula book. Koumouri is the Japanese word for bat, which is the animal most associated with vampires. If you want to know why I chose White Knight for Hakuba rather than anything else, look up the Nightmare chapters of Magic Kaito. White Wizard has a couple of sources – one of them is Ryou Bakura's Monster World persona. The other is Lord of the Rings. . . which I'm sure they've all read.


	5. Sleeping Arrangements

TVD – Omake

Chapter Five – Sleeping Arrangements

Set during the first night Hattori stays at the Kuroba's in chapter ten.

---

Unused to not sleeping in a bed of some kind – usually a _Western_ style bed, thank you very much – Hakuba Saguru found it hard to sleep while lying on a floor with only a sleeping bag between him and the hard surface.

Of course, it could also have been that the person only a few feet away was obnoxious, both hard and hot-headed, was generally more useful as brawn rather than brain (even though this had been thrown out of the window several times that day, mostly it still held true) and whom Kudo-kun had told him snored.

Or maybe it was that he was sleeping – or was it trying to sleep, and mostly failing? – in the same room in which the plans had been made earlier that same day, and that the room was also home to every detective's dream. The portrait of Kuroba Toichi, which had been made monotone by the moon, held all of the secrets of the Kaitou Kid, and any if not all acquaintances that he had not already met.

The only reason he had not already made a move was that one, he was tired, and two, Kuroba was a respected, if not trusted (it was more respectful not to trust him not to prank you, Saguru had found out), friend. Another thing was that he was a guest, and in his rulebook, things like those he was think of weren't done by guests.

Yet again, his eyes were drawn back to the smiling picture. He really did need a distraction.

"Ne, Hattori-kun."

The hot-blooded detective spared him only a few hardly intelligible words strung together as one, but evidently was awake still.

"Ne, Hattori – a question for you."

"Yeah wha-?"

Saguru sighed with impatience.

"I was wondering, he said, "If you knew why we were put in the same room together, when everyone knows that we don't exactly get along at the best of times."

There was a rustle, and when he looked over his night adjusted eyes could see the other boy sitting up slightly.

"Well, I don't think Kuroba'd like it much if someone threw him out of his room."

Kuroba's classmate snorted.

"More likely that the fool who tried to take his place would not attempt to try again."

"Experience?"

A short and somewhat embarrassed pause.

"Kuroba was, ah, _ill_ one day at school. I took the liberty of attempting to sit in the place he usually occupies." He stopped himself before he could embarrass himself any further. Hattori (thank God) did not laugh – that he could see, anyway. One did not have to be able to imagine the kinds of things Kuroba could do, and that was hen he wasn't even concentrating. "And Kudo-kun?"

"What about that guy?"

What about Kudo? What _wasn't_ about that person? All of the current mysteries in his life were in some way, shape or form connected to the eastern conundrum of a detective.

"Kudo-kun and Kuroba-kun seem to be suddenly rather close of late," he said, choosing simpler questions for the moment.

"Really? I only found out today who that guy was."

_Yes. When he came down the stairs and opened the door to you with my face on_.

"But was there any reason why he couldn't have shared with anyone else?" I.e., you.

"Well, Ku- that – that is, uh, Kudo. . ."

"Well?"

"Kudo. . . he, uh, sleeps like the dead."

". . . ah."

That answered about as many things as it didn't.

He just about made out a tilt of the Osakan's head.

"Jealous?"

Saguru blinked. "What? Oh, no. Absolutely not. I think that I'm his favourite prank victim, and the break is somewhat of a relief. Though the identical looks that often appear on their faces have quite the opposite effect."

A pause. Just long enough for a shared shiver.

"Ya got me there. An' I thought one was bad enough." A soft thump. Hattori had gone vertical again. "So. Couldn't sleep much either, huh?"

Saguru started. "I- !"

"Nah." A rustle of fabric. "Whatever." A yawn. "Doesn't matter. Jus' try not ta be wake us all up when ya decide on bein' an idiot, all right?"

Saguru's mouth opened and closed in confounded yet mute outrage.

Sometimes he wondered just why Hattori Heiji was called a detective at all. Sometimes he thought of the fool show Kuroba put on, when he was obviously more intelligent than nearly anyone knew, and thought that maybe that was what was going on.

Then again, there were the times when he simply wanted to hit the other for no easily explicable reason.

Now, he decided as he lay back down, was one of the latter times.

Kuroba Toichi smiled on, probably amused that even when a living Kuroba wasn't in the room, he could still cause trouble.

---

AN: Poor, poor Hakuba. I think that's all I can say.

Apart from the fact that the first Omake type thing that I wrote was similar to this, but fits nowhere at all in the story, expanding on how Shinichi seems to sleep like the dead.

I haven't really had much time for TVD Second Grace, lately. I've been concentrating on other things. But I suppose an omake shows that I'm still thinking of the story, ne?


	6. When I Was Myself

TVD Omake

When I Was Myself

AN: Missing conversation between Ran and Shinichi set just after Kaito leaves the Mouri residence in chapter nine.

----

"Ne, Shinichi?"

Ran caught him looking at her with that slightly worried expression of his, and backed down, blushing.

"Eh, never mind. It's not really anything important..."

"Barou. If it wasn't important, you wouldn't have brought it up. What's more – since you're bringing this up just now, after Kuroba's gone, I can only deduce that it's got something to do with that guy. Or rather, should I say, the Kaitou Kid."

Ran rolled her eyes but didn't disagree. Of course he was right. Shinichi was always right about such things.

"So? What is it?"

"I... I was just wondering... that is, um..."

Shinichi sighed.

"Look, if you want me to find something out, we can just call him – I'm sure he wouldn't mind. If it's about anything else, you can just ask me. I'll still be here whenever, you know."

She sighed. No matter how many times she heard the words, they would always now have a place in her heart that made her feel so much better when he said them.

"It's not about Kuroba-kun. At least, I don't think it is. Um. Kind of it is, but it also isn't, and. . . it's also kind of about you," she said, trailing off at the end with her face red.

"About. . . me?" Shinichi asked, nonplussed. "What could be about both me and him? I mean, other than when I've met him at heists, and that wasn't exactly meeting, but. . ."

"Eh? You're sure?"

"Yeah, pretty sure. Why?"

"I suppose... It's just, well, you two look really similar. Like you could maybe – oh, I don't know, pass for one another, like if someone just saw a bit of you, or. . . Shinichi, what're you _laughing_ for?"

"Oh – sorry, Ran. It's just the idea. Me, dressing up as him? Even now, you wouldn't be able to pay me to do it. That guy's a thief, Ran – no amount of alliance is going to change that, whether he's actually a nice guy or not. Not to mention I've never done a practical magic trick in my life, and they practically are his life."

Ran giggled.

"You mean like you and your mysteries and your Holmes?"

"Yeah, I guess," he groused, "except that guy likes Lupin better. Anyone with eyes can see that Holmes was always better."

"Ah, aha ha. . ." She trailed off, eyes going distant. "Yet, Shinichi – wasn't Lupin the one who wore so many disguises he almost couldn't remember which one his own face was?"

"Yeah, he was," her friend said, surprised slightly. "But when did you hear that?"

She shook her head.

"I heard you and Kuroba-kun arguing over them worse than you and Hattori-kun usually do over Holmes and Ellery Queen."

"Ah." There was that smug look back on his face, the one that said he knew something that she did not, and that he was going to make a big show of knowing, and- "What you wanted to ask me; it was about all those times I went back to my old self, isn't it? And the times I only appeared to."

Her eyes widened ever so much on a reflex, always astounded at his deductions no matter how seemingly small. Then she nodded, looking down in embarrassment and shame.

"I know I shouldn't even have to ask – it couldn't have been you. You were there, at the same time, nearly every time, at least, I think so. And there were so many times when it seemed like you were back but you'd just go away straight after, or only call, and I know how good Kuroba-san is with voices, and he looks _just like_ you..."

"O-oi, Ran, don't be upset – please don't cry, you know I don't like it when you cry – and it was me, really me, at least it was most times. You remember that time when we first met Hattori? That time, and the time when I solved that case still dressed up as the knight from that play, and then later had to solve that crime in that restaurant while you waited, but then..."

"...then you had to go back to being Conan again. I remember that. But what about all the other times? I mean, thinking about it, it was definitely you who disguised yourself as Shiragami-sama, right? I remember... we were still holding hands... but all of the other times?"

Shinichi sighed and turned away from her sideways, so that only his profile was visible to her, and she once again marvelled at how sharp yet smooth the lines of his face were now in the sinking of the sun, which was causing them to look as though they were both blushing.

"Well, those other times, huh... Yeah. Them you'd have to thank Kuroba for, I think. Might be one or two we missed out, though, but aside from that..."

"You mean, when I thought I saw you in Shibuya that day, it really wasn't- and it was really...?"

"Yeah, that'd probably be Kuroba. The girl was probably Aoko-san. I've met her."

"And that time you appeared after the case with all the Easter eggs but when I got out you were gone, it was- ?"

"Kuroba, again. Though that time, he actually did it on purpose, the jerk. I suppose I had to thank him, though – I was almost about to tell you, and if I had at that point, it definitely wouldn't have been pretty." He held up a hand to ward off her protests when she opened her mouth. "I know you wanted to know, but it just wasn't time yet back then, you understand, right?"

Resigned and forcefully putting the past in the past, she nodded slowly.

"And. . . that time, when you showed up – but that can't have been you! At the theatre, and on the plane – you were there still, you were still Conan, and you acted like, well, you as Conan, but kind of off as Shinichi..."

He smiled – more like a full-blown grin – and put his hands behind his neck.

"Bin-go! I have got to see the look on his face when he's told you figured him out from that – he prides himself on getting the details right, you know."

Se frowned slightly, but there was amusement hidden behind her eyes, and she knew that he could see it.

"It wasn't so much the details as it was the fact that he used weird words, and acted all funny. 'Cute'. I still can't believe he called me 'cute' He was trying to flirt with me, and he's already got a girlfriend!"

Shinichi laughed a little at the expense of the thief, who, she believed, entirely deserved it.

"I think he just flirts and teases everyone like that, Ran. All it did was make it easier for me and the others to figure out who he really was. He even landed on _Ayumi-chan's_ balcony, once!"

Ran attempted to hide a giggle behind her hand, but of course with his hearing the way it was now it was only a gesture.

"Oh, Shinichi... you still talk about them like that, don't you?" She shook her head, but only paused for a moment, not long enough for him to give her an answer to the question. "Thinking about it, though. . . I am still almost glad that it was him still who called on that plane, later."

"Eh? What was that? I don't remember him ever calling anyone – unless you mean when he was contacting flight control, and I was right there, remember?"

"You – you – you mean you- ?!" Her face growing brighter and redder by the second, she stared at him. He, who was still partly facing away from her and looking into the sunset, his face flushing slightly pink. She looked away out of sheer embarrassment and the way the fading pink sunlight silhouetting his figure made her feel.

_Those words. I said those words, and I almost didn't think that he had heard them, that it was my secret with someone else. . . But he did hear them, didn't he? I heard Conan on that phone – I know I did. So. . . why hasn't he said anything, even now? At all?_

She looked back at where he had been, only to find him gone. She turned about so quickly she was almost afraid of whiplash, but there he was again, heading towards the door and stairs to go, jacket hung over one shoulder. He sighed again, turning his head slightly her way so that she could see the fond smirk that was playing its way around his mouth.

"Of course I heard, Ran. . ."

The words were so softly spoken that she almost thought that he had not said them at all, that it had been a fantasy of her own imagination. But they had been just loud enough to hear. Both that and the look on his face just before he had said them were good enough for her, and she was in such good spirits so far into the night that her father even asked her if she was all right, and what it was that the 'detective brat' had done this time.

She just shook her head, said that nothing was wrong, and kept on grinning.

-----

AN: I've been wanting to write this for simply ages. I mean, ages. . .

Written in keeping with that point in TVD1, the tone here is light, but with overtones of some of the themes that were playing out in that part of the story.

Please be aware that, like in the main story, I'm using both the manga and the anime movies as canon material. I like the movies. They're cool. I think the only one that I missed out was the Seventh, Crossroad in the Ancient Capital. But I couldn't think of where – or how – to put it in, so you've still got all of the others covered, I think.


	7. What Turned Out To Be A Very Bad Idea

TVD Omake (Challenge 23, Music)

What Turned To Be A Very Bad Idea

AN: Probably takes place sometime around Chapter 6 of The Vampire Detective (The Clues).

----

Both Ran and Sonoko winced, and pre-emptively tensed for the next verse.

Ran didn't know exactly how they had got to this point, but it probably had something to do with the fact that her father had wanted the day to himself – Yoko was going to be on TV again, and he didn't want to be disturbed – and Sonoko had wanted to drag her out to celebrate Shinichi's return. So of course they hadn't been able to leave Shinichi behind, especially since the outing was in his honour.

Ran and Shinichi had discussed shortly the kind of place he wouldn't mind going. As it was a weekend day, they were out in the middle of the day, right in the glare of the September sun. Neither had especially wanted to stay out for too long, and likewise nowhere too dark. Ran personally thought that the way his eyes glowed like a cat's in the dark was rather pretty, but she wasn't sure what Sonoko would have thought about it, so somewhere like the cinema was, for now, an abandoned idea with someone else in tow.

Of course, Shinichi being Shinichi, he hadn't wanted to go anywhere too big, either, and had wanted it to be somewhere small enough that he could keep an eye on who was going in and out – or, quite probably, only needing an ear, the way his hearing was now.

Sonoko had jumped on the idea, and now, here they were, stuck listening to each other sing, and one thought in particular jumped out in her mind as he sang _Murder on the Dancefloor_.

_Well, we've certainly found out that being a vampire doesn't automatically guarantee getting over tone-deafness... _

What was worse was that even through all of this, he still couldn't seem to figure out how bad his singing was.

---

AN: Couldn't help it. Saw Manycases1truth's challenge 23, and saw this image of Shinichi in a karaoke box. Came together with my long-held opinion that being turned doesn't always mean you're going to be a great singer. Don't ask why Sonoko wanted to do this when she knows how bad he is at singing – it's only been Conan there for about a year, and she doesn't join the dots like Ran does precisely, and she probably forgot ^_^;


	8. The Clocktower

The Vampire Detective – Omake

The Clocktower

AN: I've always thought that Aoko was neglected slightly as a character in the main story, instead used more as a plot device of sorts. This is my way of repairing that.

----

Aoko shivered. It was nearly the beginning of October, and she should have remembered that before going out at night with only a light sweater on and no coat.

And yet here she was, shivering on the clocktower steps, because she couldn't think of anywhere else that she would rather be.

After all, her life hadn't precisely been fun and roses recently. First, she had been kidnapped right under everyone's noses, then she'd been kept in a horrid place, and then. . . then she had found out that Kaito – stupid Kaito, the boy she'd grown up with, who had flipped her skirt and teased her and called her too boyish to be worth liking – was actually the Kaitou Kid.

She had gone to Ran-chan, who had quickly proved to be a fast friend, having had a similar experience happen to her, although the other girl hadn't explained exactly what had happened. But all Ran had been able to tell her was that if Shinichi-kun was such good friends with Kaito, then that was a good enough reason for _her_ not to go blabbing to anyone. But Aoko had to find her own reasons, her own way of dealing with it, she said.

She had already figured out that she wasn't going to tell her father about it. For some reason, she couldn't find it within her to follow the thought through.

_Because if I did_, a treacherous part of her said, _then he would arrest the Kid, but the Kid would be Kaito. And I don't think that I could live with that_.

She curled up further around herself, hugging her arms close to. She looked up, only to see the clocktower that had been a part of her life – hers and Kaito's – up until now, and probably would be a part of it long into her future.

She could remember clearly the first time she had been here, waiting. She had been a little girl, waiting for her father to get back from work. Work, she now realised, that must have been because of Kaito's father. The first Kaitou Kid.

Oh, she had been told the entire story, by not only Kaito himself but also Shinichi-kun, telling of how he'd been the one in one of the copters that'd seen through the Kid's trick with the hanging, and he'd also said he'd met Kaito's 'Tou-san, once. Even if he hadn't known it at the time. Hakuba-kun had also volunteered information for her, much to her surprise and confusion. He had admitted, in a matter-of-fact tone, exactly how things had been between him and Kaito from the first time they had met. All the way up until he had decided to throw in his lot with Kaito, and his reasons why.

Which meant that when she went to school now, Kaito watched her strangely, not flipping her skirt. And Hakuba-kun had started to get along with Kaito, sometimes talking with each other in those weirdly serious tones they got at times when they thought people weren't looking. Even Koizumi-chan had acted differently. . . she was friendlier with Hakuba-kun than she used to be, and Aoko now noticed that she made strange comments occasionally that often implied that she, also, knew about Kaito.

All in all, it made for very tense times. Aoko herself wasn't sure how to take everything, and wasn't quite sure how to deal with a Kaito who didn't mean to try and rile her up every day.

She was still getting over the fact that he was the Kaitou Kid.

She could still remember that moment in that place, where he had asked her over and over if she trusted him. How he had taken off all of his masks before her, just so that she could trust him.

And she did. Implicitly. She knew that he would never willingly hurt her – which was, she reluctantly admitted, probably why she had never been told what he had been going through the past year. She still trusted him to protect her.

But she wasn't sure anymore if he trusted her. Even if she knew that it had been for her state of mind, he had lied to her. A lot. No matter how much she still trusted him, something like that couldn't be forgotten very easily. Or at all.

So here she was. Back where it had all started for her. In front of the clocktower. . . waiting. Waiting for some sort of answer, maybe. For her heart to stop clenching and to not know what to feel any more whenever she saw him. She wanted to hate him for being Kid and for keeping it from her. She wanted to – to be near him and have everything the way things used to be.

It wasn't raining, but there were raindrops falling down her face.

Without warning, her light was blocked and there was a shadow crouching down in front of her. Not thinking, she backed away – but when she did, she recognised the person, recognised Kaito in his dark blue jacket and jeans and pirate emblazoned t-shirt and his messy hair.

His head cocked itself slightly sideways, his violet eyes examining her gently, just like that last time she had been sick and she had noticed him look at her with something other than mischief for once. Maybe not for the only time, or even the first, but. . .

"Hey," he said, softly. His voice was so much gentler than Kaito usually was that she couldn't help but stare. "You waiting for something?"

"I. . . uh. . ." she blinked. Wiped her eyes. "Dunno. Might've been. Why?"

"Eh? Oh, ah. . . I might've been waiting for something, too. Hey, I've got an idea – how about we wait together? I've been feeling kinda lonely for a while."

Aoko's eyes widened, her mouth opening into a little 'oh'.

"I, um. I don't mind," she said, "but I don't know where you can sit. It's not all that comfortable, you know."

"Yeah..." he said.

He seemed to be trying to think something over. She watched him as he did so, noticing that, for once, she could actually read his emotions more than she ever had been able to before. Then, suddenly, he held out his hand, a rose appearing in it as he did so.

"I'm Kuroba Kaito," he said. "Nice to meet you."

She smiled, and took it. She was meaning to put it somewhere, but she couldn't think of anywhere, and then he was leaning towards her, taking it from her again and reaching up, securing it lightly in her hair. She giggled at first, then started to truly laugh when he overbalanced and fell over, grinning.

"Kaito!"

She stood, bent down and helped him up. He was still grinning. Then, the smile became embarrassed. She wasn't sure that she'd ever seen Kaito so nervously embarrassed like that. Just because of her.

"Hey, Aoko. Aren't you cold out here? You've got to be – you aren't even wearing a proper jacket! Come on, wear mine. No, go on. We can go back to my place, if you like – mom won't mind, you need to get warmed up, and you can break out with the universal weapons of doom if you think I'm being a prat – uh, Aoko?"

She threw her arms around him, much to the shock of both of them.

"Thank you, Kaito," she said quietly. "I mean it. I really do."

"You, uh, like the rose, then?"

She let go of him and nodded with a grin teasing at her mouth.

"I wouldn't let 'Tou-san see it, though," she said. "He doesn't really like anything that's white."

"And what about you?" he asked, looking at her sidelong.

"Hm..." she said, hand reaching up to the white rose that was in her hair. "I think it might be growing on me."

His only response was to smile from ear to ear, and start to lead her back home.

----

AN: I liked the idea that the scene would happen here. It couldn't really have happened anywhere else. To note flower language, the white rose has a number of different meanings; in the English version, it's eternal love, silence or innocence, wistfulness, virtue, purity, secrecy, reverence and humility. For the Japanese, it's innocence, silence and devotion. I believe that Kaito meant a mix of both versions when he gave his to Aoko, though P_^


	9. The Sides of a Coin

The Vampire Detective – Omake

The Two Sides of a Coin

-----

Another _click-tick. . . clack_. Boom.

Haibara Ai – born Miyano Shiho – sighed quietly. The professor had been harmlessly blowing things up for most of the day like he usually did when working on something, but this was just getting ridiculous.

She needed to work on some of the more obscure parts of Kudo-kun's new blood properties, how they interacted with not only the Apotoxin – that had in fact been her first trial – but also other poisons of varying toxicity, both common and rare diseases and, last but certainly not any less important, whether or not normal human blood was or was not accepted by means other than ingestion. Things were going slowly, but at least she was being left mostly in peace until Kudo-kun himself got back from school.

She both envied him and didn't. Envied, because he had his seventeen year old body back. Could go to school and interact properly with those of his own, true age. Didn't, because those same people, while being their age, were in all probability not even as mature in some things as the threesome that had named their group the 'Shounen Tantei' despite two of the members being girls.

Besides, her work here was much more interesting than whatever Kudo-kun's teachers had to be setting him.

Now, if only. . .

"Ne, Ai-kun?"

"Hn?"

"I've been wondering, you know... Back then, when Shinichi-kun was here. How did you know what was wrong with him? I mean, I know there was what we saw back at Unobo-san's, but..."

Ai sighed and put the test tube full of blood that she had been experimenting with down into a separate rack for the moment so that she didn't lose track of it.

"It was a matter of looking at the two sides of a coin, hakase. On the one hand, we could have imagined the scene in the darkened room, or we could assume that there was a bright light shining in through a window or wall that we were somehow unable to see."

She paused. The professor's chair creaked.

"Ah, but..."

She sighed, and kneaded her forehead with one hand.

"Yes. But. If what I had just said _was_ true, then what Kudo-kun was feeling later on would have been merely the anticipated onset of the spasms that come prior to the return of one Edogawa Conan-kun. Which is what I would have believed had I not witnessed for myself sufficient evidence to the contrary."

She turned around to glance at him sardonically.

"Besides that," she said with an accompanying smirk, "if my gambit had proved false, then we would have lost nothing, merely only causing not a slight amount of confusion on the parts of both you and Kudo-kun."

The professor frowned.

"Yet you were right."

The shrunken scientist threw her hands wide in an expansive shrug.

"What can I say? I chose the wild card, it worked. Only..."

"What is it?"

"Don't ever let the Organisation get a hold of even one sample of his blood. Ever."

At first, the man seemed surprised, then wondering, and at last he seemed to understand. Because the devil alone knew what the crime syndicate she had once worked for would do with something like this. . . They had sent her out after even the faintest rumours while she had been with them, that might lead to their goal; she didn't want to inadvertently give them an easy way there when she was trying to work against them, for the first true time in her life.

Because here, with these people, she had found something that she wished to protect. . . a feeling that she had almost thought had died with her sister.

-----

AN: Okay. Um, this one. Not funny, this one – more of a plot hole filler that I kept wondering about – why and how did Haibara know to bring out that blood pack in the fourth chapter? Well, I hope this explains to everyone else, as well. Anyone who has read up to the Shiragami-sama case and beyond should know what she's talking about. Not too hard if you think about the fact that I'm merging the BO and Kid's Org (if they were ever really seperate) in TVDverse.

Title and Omake inspired by Ellery Queen, who likes to see to sides to things, apparently. (I'm reading Double, Double, an oooold copy. 1958 old. I think that I'm on Shinichi's side, though – I've been reading Holmes a lot longer, so I'm biased.) I thought the reference suits her quite well, here.


	10. A Certain Kind of Shine

The Vampire Detective Omake – (Challenge 6, Movies)

A Certain Kind of Shine

Set around the same time as Omake 7.

---

When, a few days after the awful Karaoke incident Ran brought up the suggestion of going to the cinema, Shinichi had tentatively agreed, but only on one condition. That Sonoko wasn't going to come along with them.

Blushing, Ran had rolled her eyes, not saying anything on the matter for once. Because, of course, if Sonoko went with them then there wouldn't just be endless teasing and instances of her best friend saying that her calling them husband and wife was justified, but also the other girl would probably want to figure out how Shinichi did that thing with his eyes.

It wasn't quite so noticeable outside, or even in school. But they did tend to have a cat-like effect when in darker places where Shinichi felt safer and more likely to let his guard down.

And so, that weekend, they'd gone out into the town and booked seats for the obvious movie to go and see, and sat down to watch it.

At first, Ran had thought that it was a good choice. After all, the crowds were big enough that most people wouldn't see anything wrong with Shinichi, and if they did they could probably get away with it by saying that he'd chosen to wear prank contact lenses. Also, the movie was one that she knew that Shinichi should like, and if Shinichi was happy then she, too, should be happy.

The movie itself passed by relatively peaceably – if by that it is generally thought that 'peaceably' means 'no murders happened from the start to the finish of the film'. Shinichi watched it avidly, taking in every detail and each intricacy of the plot, and Ran had to hide a smile at the thought that he looked and reacted similar to how Genta-kun or Mitsuhiko-kun did at times when watching their favourite show, Kamen Yaiba.

When the movie finished and everyone filed out, however, what made several people stare wasn't his eyes, although they were sparkling prettily as a result of the streetlights.

It was the other look in his eyes that caught people, and more even than that, the way that kept going on and on about every single thing in the movie, his memory picking out even the strangest details that probably weren't even of any interest to anyone else. The way he was constantly switching from sheer criticism of the way the era had been portrayed – "They would never have gone out dressed like that!" to high praise of the use of back material, and referencing of the earlier works.

Ran sighed, stole another look at her detective, and smiled. Maybe it might have been better to go to anything other than the new Sherlock Holmes movie, if only for the sake of her ears and sanity, but at least he was happy.

He was, after all, _her_ detective idiot. Even if the way he kept on going on about Holmes and Conan Doyle was the one thing that tested her patience like nothing else she knew.

----

AN: Originally was going to be something like Dracula that they were going to see, but I couldn't justify it well enough. I chose this 'cause I live in England where the movie came out, and so I heard a lot of hype and made my own opinions. I mean what I said about costuming. But apart from that and a few other things, it did sound like it would be all right to see.

In between chapters, as TVD2 7 has been posted but I haven't yet started writing 8 as other things have been getting in the way. New fics and continuing old ones.


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